I came across the sayings of the great Greek Stoic Epictetus while reading "Poor Charlie's Almanack". Epictetus was born a slave but rose to become a respected philosopher. The central theme of his teachings is that we should use all mishaps in life for improving ourselves and not blame others or the Gods for it. His epitaph, written by himself, itself read, "Here lies Epictetus, a slave maimed in body, the ultimate in poverty, and the favored of the gods.".
I found his teachings quite profound and found a blog post providing a summary. Here are a few of my favorite ones:
- “I [Zeus] gave you a portion of our divinity, a spark from our own fire, the power to act and not to act, the will to get and the will to avoid. If you pay heed to this, you will not groan, you will blame no man, you will flatter none”
- "Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants. Seek not the good in external things; seek it in yourselves. Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire.”
- “Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it. Don't just say you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think better, to be a more discriminating and reflective person. Books are the training weights of the mind. They are very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake to suppose that one has made progress simply by having internalized their contents."
- “Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems. It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”
- “If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”
- “The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.”
- “Any person capable of angering you becomes your master; he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.”
- “Other people's views and troubles can be contagious. Don't sabotage yourself by unwittingly adopting negative, unproductive attitudes through your associations with others.”
- “He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at.”
- “Circumstances don't make the man, they only reveal him to himself.”
- “To accuse others of one's own misfortune is a sign of want of education. To accuse oneself shows that one's education has begun. To accuse neither oneself nor others shows that one's education is complete.”
- “It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.”
- “First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.”
- “Do not try to seem wise to others. ” “Don't seek to have events happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do happen, and all will be well with you.”
- “If you would cure anger, do not feed it. Say to yourself: 'I used to be angry every day; then every other day; now only every third or fourth day.' When you reach thirty days offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the gods.”
- “Difficulty shows what men are. Therefore when a difficulty falls upon you, remember that God, like a trainer of wrestlers, has matched you with a rough young man. Why? So that you may become an Olympic conqueror, but it is not accomplished without sweat.”
- “Even as the Sun doth not wait for prayers and incantations to rise, but shines forth and is welcomed by all: so thou also wait not for clapping of hands and shouts and praise to do thy duty; nay, do good of thine own accord, and thou wilt be loved like the Sun.”
- “These reasonings are unconnected: "I am richer than you, therefore I am better"; "I am more eloquent than you, therefore I am better." The connection is rather this: "I am richer than you, therefore my property is greater than yours;" "I am more eloquent than you, therefore my style is better than yours." But you, after all, are neither property nor style.”
- “Control thy passions lest they take vengeance on thee.”
- “A guide, on finding a man who has lost his way, brings him back to the right path—he does not mock and jeer at him and then take himself off. You also must show the unlearned man the truth, and you will see that he will follow. But so long as you do not show it to him, you should not mock, but rather feel your own incapacity.”
- “It is our attitude toward events, not events themselves, which we can control. Nothing is by its own nature calamitous -- even death is terrible only if we fear it.”
- “Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of things. Thus death is nothing terrible, else it would have appeared so to Socrates. But the terror consists in our notion of death, that it is terrible. When, therefore, we are hindered, or disturbed, or grieved let us never impute it to others, but to ourselves; that is, to our own views. It is the action of an uninstructed person to reproach others for his own misfortunes; of one entering upon instruction, to reproach himself; and of one perfectly instructed, to reproach neither others or himself.”
- “To Epictetus, all external events are determined by fate, and are thus beyond our control, but we can accept whatever happens calmly and dispassionately. Individuals, however, are responsible for their own actions which they can examine and control through rigorous self-discipline. Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power. As part of the universal city that is the universe, human beings have a duty of care to all fellow humans. The person who followed these precepts would achieve happiness.”
- “Do not afflict others with anything that you yourself would not wish to suffer. if you would not like to be a slave, make sure no one is your slave. If you have slaves, you yourself are the greatest slave, for just as freedom is incompatible with slavery, so goodness is incompatible with hypocrisy.”
- “Tentative efforts lead to tentative outcomes. Therefore, give yourself fully to your endeavors. Decide to construct your character through excellent actions and determine to pay the price of a worthy goal. The trials you encounter will introduce you to your strengths. Remain steadfast...and one day you will build something that endures: something worthy of your potential.”
- “On the occasion of every accident that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and inquire what power you have for turning it to use.”
- “No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.”
- “What then, is it not possible to be free from faults? It is not possible; but this is possible: to direct your efforts incessantly to be faultless. For we must be content if by never remitting this attention we shall escape at least a few errors. When you have said ‘Tomorrow I will begin to attend,’ you must be told that you are saying this: ‘Today I will be shameless, disregardful of time and place, mean; it will be in the power of others to give me pain, today I will be passionate and envious.’”
- "You know yourself what you are worth in your own eyes; and at what price you will sell yourself. For men sell themselves at various prices."
- “Most of what passes for legitimate entertainment is inferior or foolish and only caters to or exploits people's weaknesses. Avoid being one of the mob who indulges in such pastimes. Your life is too short and you have important things to do. Be discriminating about what images and ideas you permit into your mind. If you yourself don't choose what thoughts and images you expose yourself to, someone else will, and their motives may not be the highest. It is the easiest thing in the world to slide imperceptibly into vulgarity. But there's no need for that to happen if you determine not to waste your time and attention on mindless pap.”
- “So you wish to conquer in the Olympic Games, my friend? And I, too... But first, mark the conditions and the consequences. You will have to put yourself under discipline; to eat by rule, to avoid cakes and sweetmeats; to take exercise at the appointed hour whether you like it or not, in cold and heat; to abstain from cold drinks and wine at your will. Then, in the conflict itself, you are likely enough to dislocate your wrist or twist your ankle, to swallow a great deal of dust, to be severely thrashed, and after all of these things, to be defeated.”
- “Now is the time to get serious about living your ideals. How long can you afford to put off who you really want to be? Your nobler self cannot wait any longer. Put your principles into practice – now. Stop the excuses and the procrastination. This is your life! You aren’t a child anymore. The sooner you set yourself to your spiritual program, the happier you will be. The longer you wait, the more you’ll be vulnerable to mediocrity and feel filled with shame and regret, because you know you are capable of better. From this instant on, vow to stop disappointing yourself. Separate yourself from the mob. Decide to be extraordinary and do what you need to do – now.”
- “Small-minded people blame others. Average people blame themselves. The wise see all blame as foolishness”
